It is well known in the art to use a frontal bracket for mounting a side wing plough or blade on a vehicle to remove snow or other materials from a pavement/sidewalk or roadside. In particular, wings are temporarily mounted for seasonal use on a motor vehicle, and more specifically on a 2 to 3 tons truck with a low profiled chassis. In the prior art, U.S. Pat. No. 2,991,566 issued to Sumner et al. on Jul. 11, 1961; U.S. Pat. No. 3,659,363 issued to Snyder on May 2, 1972; U.S. Pat. No. 4,045,892 issued to Farrell on Sept. 6, 1977; U.S. Pat. No. 4,096,652 issued to Raines et al. on Jun. 27, 1978; U.S. Pat. No. 4,357,766 issued to Croteau et al. on Nov. 9, 1982 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,363,631 issued to Cordingley on Apr. 2, 2002 show a frontal bracket holding the forward section of a side wing via a vertical axis wing attachment pivot that is often combined with a frontward lifting means. In those cases however, the pivot is adjacent the wing whilst the frontward lifting means is secured on the vehicle via a generally complex mounting arrangement.
Problems associated with the existing types of frontal mounting bracket are operational restrictions occasioned by various circumstances. For example the actual positioning of the frontward lifting means, which includes a substantially vertical post, often partially obstructs the view of the driver of the vehicle. Another drawback characteristic of some prior art equipment is that the frontward lifting means prevents the full opening of the hood of the vehicle, thus necessitating disassembly of some parts of the mounting arrangement in order to gain access to the engine compartment. Furthermore, when the vehicle is to be used without the side wing, such as during the summer period, the visually obstructing and cumbersome frontward lifting means generally remains mounted on the vehicle.
All the above mechanisms have their front pivot point or axis extending through the side wing such that when the rear portion of the wing is raised, the bottom front portion wants to dig into the ground surface. U.S. Pat. No. 6,363,631 solves that problem by having the pivot axis toward the front and outside of the wing. The problem associated with the latter is that the bolt forming the pivot takes all the loads and tends to break frequently, thus involving downtime and expense.
Furthermore, during snow plowing operation, when the leading end of the side wing hits an obstacle it is physically lifted up and the rear portion (trailing end) of the side wing resists against its displacement thus limiting the partial raising movement of the side wing and inducing significant loads thereon that could damage the wing attachment points. To remove this resistance, there should be a mechanism that allows the leading end of the side wing to tilt backward while moving up upon obstacle impact.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved frontward mounting for a side wing with a simple configuration.